getrealchris's Profile

The other night a friend took me to a new eatery in the quaint little village of Kingston, New Jersey (right outside of Princeton) called Osteria Procaccini. The restaurant features a a terra cotta brick oven and offers a simple menu of thin crust brick oven pizzas, panini, a few antipasti dishes, and 9 different salads. The dining room is tiny with only 5 or 6 tables, but it's clean and cozy and they also do take-out if you prefer. Since the restaurant doesn't serve liquor they invite dine in patrons to bring their own.

I love a good thin crust pizza charred and bubbly out of a brick oven and Osteria Procaccini did not disappoint. But just as important to me is fact that the restaurant seems committed to using only high quality ingredients.

Their menu states:

" Osteria Procaccini offers all natural Italian food using quality ingredients that are sustainable, organic and local whenever possible; like things used to be.Our concept is authentic Italian food free of artificial preservatives, colors, sweeteners, flavors, hydrogenated fats, and to promote healthy eating."

Here is a rundown of the food on which we feasted. For starters we shared the mela e noce salad. This consisted of baby spinach in a balsamic vinaigrette, slices of granny smith apples, walnuts and a nice amount of gorgonzola, which we asked for on the side because my friend doesn't eat dairy. The salad was very fresh, nicely dressed and was garnished with a crouton like bread crisp that was especially tasty. ﻿

﻿﻿ Next we ordered two of the brick oven pizzas. We choose the il Tartufo di Gianni which was topped with organic san marzano tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, Applegate Farms nitrate free sausage, mushrooms, and white truffle oil imported from Italy. Our second pie was Tino's Margherita which we ordered cheese-less for my friend, but added red roasted peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and mushrooms. Both pies were awesome. The crust was crispy and had a lot of flavor on it's own and the toppings were bright and fresh. The pies are 10 inches, but very thin so I imagine that someone with a big appetite like my husband, could polish one off on his own, but we had plenty of leftovers to take home. ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ My friend, who had dined at Osteria Procaccini before, insisted that I try their signature dessert which they call la dolce vita. I'm so glad that I did. This was thin crust dessert pizza generously spread with nutella and topped with berries and whipped cream. We ate in silence, occasionally pausing to add a "hmmmm this is sooo good."

I can't wait to go back to this place. Griff. Next time I am going to try one of whole wheat crust pizzas and some of the antipasti dishes that looked tempting. ﻿ When you are striving to nourish your body with only REAL, unprocessed food eating out can be a such a challenge, but with restaurants like Osteria Procaccini opening up it's getting easier.